Docket Page 38 – Murder, Inc. by James H. Johnston

CHARGE: To explore whether the assassination of John F. Kennedy was ordered by Fidel Castro as the result of the CIA’s attempts to assassinate Castro?

As JFK assumed the presidency in 1961, he inherited a CIA that President Eisenhower described as “a legacy of ashes.” It had deviated from the mission for which it was created – intelligence gathering – into covert action. One of the first pressures placed on the new president was to do something about Castro and Cuba. Working with the Mob, the CAI plotted the assassination of Fidel Castro, while simultaneously planning the doomed Bay of Pigs Invasion. It was fascinating to learn that the CIA had an assassination team in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis,despite their informal commitment not to attempt to overthrow the Castro government. After resolution of the crisis, the US continued to work toward a solution of the Cuba problem. Castro understood that these activities were continuing. In an interview with the AP in September 1963, Castro said, “United State leaders should be mindful that if they are aiding terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe.” Were these words prescient? Was this the rationale for Oswald’s continued efforts to enter Cuba. Did he receive his instructions while in Mexico City? What were his ties with Russia – where he lived and married a Russian woman. Four days before the assassination, in a speech in Miami, President Kennedy called Castro “a barrier to be removed.” Had he just called for his own assassination? After Kennedy’s death, the investigation was hampered by the inability of the FBI and CIA to cooperate. In effect, Oswald had brought about regime change. Evidence seems to indicate that all investigations of the Kennedy assassination were to steer clear of the issue of foreign involvement. Some have called the Kennedy assassination one of the greatest intelligence failures in history. This is an extensive investigation of all these circumstances.

VERDICT: Guilty, as charged. An exhaustive treatment of an interesting theory.